L.J. West Buys Pink-Purple Alrosa Diamond

RAPAPORT... New York-based diamond collector and wholesaler L.J. West has purchased a 6.21-carat fancy-intense-pink-purple diamond from Alrosa.

The stone, one of three the Russian miner cut and polished from a 20.18-carat rough it found in one of its Yakutia mines in 2017, was purchased directly from Alrosa, L.J. West owner Larry West said. A diamond of its color is generally only found in Russia, Scott West, vice president of L.J. West, told Rapaport News Tuesday.

“This is a stone that’s so incredibly rare, it could be in a museum,” Scott West noted. “What struck me about the stone was it’s such a beautiful purple, one of the largest and highest-clarity purples I’ve ever seen.”

Alrosa gave the company an electronic passport establishing provenance for the stone, which includes a detailed visual history of the diamond’s extraction and production, as well as information about the cutter’s background.

“Our cutter’s unique skills allow us to turn [the rough] into high-quality diamonds,” said Alrosa US president Rebecca Foerster. “With these advantages, Alrosa may well become a world leader in the colored-diamond market.”

Even so, L.J. West thinks the diamond has room for improvement. It plans to recut and repolish it to bring out the purple color further, and believes it can also get a higher clarity for the stone. The process will likely remove up to 1 carat of the diamond’s weight, Scott West explained. Once the stone is recut, L.J. West intends to set it in jewelry and sell it, he added.

The wholesaler, which has an extensive collection of colored diamonds that has been featured in museums, declined to disclose the price it paid for the stone.